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Emerald Spire 39.0 - Showdown Against Dominica
When it became clear that the Adamantine knights weren't going to make the first move, Marin began to peek through the hole in the door frame, trying to catch a glimpse of his foes. He could see only one: the maul-wielding armoured knight stood openly on a chunk of floating floor. Using a mirror and Ismail's assistance, they looked around but still never managed to catch a glimpse of the other two Adamantines. Taking a chance, Marin tossed a dagger out, aiming it with such precision that it passed by the knight and struck them in the leg as it orbited around the strange closed void. The knight exclaimed pain but to Marin's dismay, they pulled the weapon out, healed the wound, and pocketed the knife. Deciding that there was nothing to do but face the problem head-on, Marin pulled himself through the small hole, expecting an ambush. The knight called out to him, and her voice was immediately familiar: it was Lt. General Dominica herself. Marin declined to speak with her and when it was clear there was to be no discussion, she attempted to Command Ismail. Luckily for him, the magic didn't take hold and he retreated further into the auxiliary room, away from her line of sight. Kormon pulled himself into the room beside Marin, both of them clinging to the door as the contents of the void orbited slowly around them. Dominica greeted him and in turn introduced her companions as they attacked, dispelling the invisibility that had covered them: Special Agent Iseul, the wizard, shot a lightning bolt at Marin as Commandant Melusine lunged past Kormon, driving her sword into his shoulder as she shot past. Kormon took a mighty swing at her but missed terribly: his blade flew out of his hands and was sent hurtling through the void. Kormon wasted no time following, jumping after Melusine. Marin sized up his options, waiting for an opportunity: his eyes were set on Dominica and the strange communication device she held, knowing it must be the key to opening the double door. The adventurers were not in as favourable a situation as they might like so Ismail set to push the balance in their favour: he cast Banishment on Dominica's companions. Melusine managed to resist the spell but the wizard Iseul was not as lucky. Amara's speculation that this void was not on the Material Plane was correct: the woman vanished, sent forcibly back somewhere on her own plane. No one knew where she ended up but the fact that she was out of the battle was good enough. Having sustained injury from Kormon, Melusine angled herself and pushed off of the barbarian, sending her floating towards Dominica. When they two were formed up, Marin took his chance to hurl one of the fireball beads at them. The raging fire wasn't enough to finish the women but Marin hurled himself at the small outcrop of brick they stood on as the fire cleared. With a flurry of movement, he managed to incapacitate Melusine and knock the communication device from Dominica's hand. Grabbing it, he hurled himself back towards the doorway while telling Kormon to finish the job. Seeing her companion down and the odds strictly against her, Dominica looked for an escape. Picking up her friend, she hurled them both into one of the portals, one that seemed to connect to a huge field of daisies. Kormon watched them leave but when they didn't reappear immediately, he refused to follow after. Unwilling to leave without his sword, Kormon's eyes scanned the void for his blade. Eventually spotting it, he jumped after it, using his other weapons to cease its spinning before pulling it in. As he made his way back to the door, he noticed something strange: another small door, fixed in space. Heading over to it, he saw it was something like a cabinet, marked with the seven-pointed symbol of the Magelord. He had a bit of difficulty getting a grip on it but eventually he managed to seize hold of the door and force it open. Inside was a piece of the spire about a foot long, carved into a peculiar, twisted shape and marked with runes. Taking it with him, he rejoined the others in the auxiliary room; Amara glanced over the object but the only magic on it seemed to be a weak enchantment meant to give it an 'identity' of sorts so that it could be recognized by other magic. Marin and Amara had begun to look over the strange, square device he had liberated from Dominica: it had a button, a knob, and seemed to be powered by a piece of the spire. As they investigated, it suddenly made a noise: a voice politely inquired for Lady Dominica. It took but a moment for them to recognize the voice of Host. With a bit of difficulty, and some instruction from Host, Marin figured out how to use the device: when he held down the button, his voice could be heard by Host, but he had to let go of the button to hear the robot in turn. Host was very glad to hear from Marin and was pleased that he had been reunited with his 'friends'. According to him, the ladies had come looking for them but had mistakenly thought that there were two other wizards in their company. He had found the door code that Dominica had wondered about though and he was glad to help them forwards. Marin refrained from mentioning precisely what had happened to Dominica but implored Host to inform them if any other friends came calling. With the code to the double doors, the group entered. They found a dark, dusty room that seemed to be once used as a lecture theater, or a presentation stage. There were stands set up on one side, and a particularly nice chair set up on its own beside it; a stage and viewing platforms were opposite, and to one side was, once again, the spire itself. When Marin stepped up to investigate, he found that the floor surrounding it was metal, and hollow beneath: a door. More concerted investigation from Ismail discovered a hatch by the door, covering a small, oddly-shaped hole. It was the perfect fit for the strange piece of crystal that Kormon had found. With caution, Marin inserted it into the slot; several tense moments later, the doors slid open as a platform raised up level with the floor. It was another elevator. Deciding to take a bit of time to rest before moving on into what they thought was the Magelord's sanctum, the group retreated back to the observation room, watching in case Dominica returned from the portal she had dodged into. She did not, and when they were feeling ready they returned to the theater. Calling the elevator before reclaiming the key, the group piled onto the platform: it was their fervent hope that as long as they kept the key to this elevator, no one else could follow them. The elevator descended with frightening speed and it must have been some sort of magic that kept them rooted on the floor. When it settled, it left them in a small corridor before a large double door, once again marked by the Magelord. On either side of the door was a statue of a fully-robed individual wearing a plain mask, the same image of Sasien Tol L'ren that they had seen on the ninth floor; the statues each held out a hand with a star-shaped indentation in it. Lying in front of the left statue was a long-dead corpse and a star-shaped ioun stone. The stone seemed to match the shape of those ones that Marin and Ismail were using to disguise themselves, but was red rather than teal. The group exhaustively investigated the room, the statues, the door, and the body before calling Host and asking for his opinion, of which he had none. The statues were clearly linked to the door and required keys, though it seemed they would respond less-than-favourably to the wrong key. The door was no help and had beside it a small plaque that essentially told would-be visitors or solicitors to leave. Eventually, Marin decided to act. Taking the red stone, he walked to the statue on the right side. Hiding behind the statue, he gingerly fit the stone into the slot on the outstretched palm. It fit perfectly and a small line of light traced its way along the floor from the statue to the door. He repeated this on the left side with his teal ioun stone; the light traced its way to the door and it slid open. Relieved, the group shuffled inside. Marin reclaimed his ioun stones and joined them. The room inside was brightly lit with a chandelier, giving off magical light. It was a grand sort of hall, with an elegant yet minimal design to it. There were three stories, each connected by curving staircases: there was a series of seven doors in front of them, five on the second, and at the top a single, imposing set of double doors. Marin and Amara walked along the ground floor, finding that each of the doors was marked with a small chalkboard. The central door had a permanent sign denoting it as a meeting room; others were blank, one was marked 'experiment', and several were noted as 'commissions' for various schools of magic: illusion, transmutation and necromancy. Kormon figured that they might as well go straight for the large door at the top, seeing as how it was rather obvious as to where they should be going. Marin, instead, peeked inside the meeting room. The room was empty, save for a large, round table and a series of seven incongruous chairs set around it. One was made of stone and seemed somehow to give off a sense of supernatural importance. One was made of gold, inlaid with gems; another was more modest and carved from the green crystal that they all intimately recognized; a third was made of cold iron and something about its jarring aesthetic seemed to ruin the quality of all of the others. The group speculated as to what this room might have been for and as they did, Amara shared some musing about the Magelords. Though she didn't know too much about them, having not been a history major, she did know that it was a commonly held, yet disrespectful, opinion that each of the schools of magic, save for divination, was tied to a deadly sin: perhaps that's why one of the chairs gave off such a heady sense of self-importance, why one was such a gaudy statement of wealth, why one seemed solely there to ruin the others. This might have been a statesroom where the great wizard kings of the fallen empire met. It was an exciting thought, for Amara at least. Marin questioned whether she might like to look in the other rooms before dashing to what might well be a throne room and Amara nodded that she would: if she had any hope of bringing back something useful for her guild, it might well be in these rooms. Category:Emerald Spire